Game apparatus.



PATENTED OCT. 8, 1907.

L B. FRY. GAME APPARATUS. APPLICATION nun coma, 100s.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. FRY, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO IRA S. WHITMER, OFMcLEAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

GAME APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. FRY, of Bloomington, in the county ofMcLean, State of Illinois, have in vented certain new and usefulImprovements in Game Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to produce a game apparatus by the use ofwhich entertaining amusement for young children may be provided.

In the accompanying drawing, which constitutes a part of thisapplication, Figure I is a side elevation of my apparatus, complete, inits preferred form of embodiment. Fig. II is a top plan view of thesame. Fig. III is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of thecontiguous ends of two of the track-rails of my apparatus, and anintermediate pocket. Fig. IV is a section on the line IVIV of Fig. I.Fig. V is an end view of the apparatus shown in Fig. I, taken from thestarting end thereof.

Referring to the numerals on the drawing, 1 and 2 indicate the uprights,and 3, 4, 5, and 6 the track-rails of my apparatus. The uprights arepreferably arranged in pairs upon opposite sides of the track-rails, andthere may be as many pairs of uprights as the length of the track-railsrenders desirable, each pair being preferably supported by a suitablebase.

In its general contour, my apparatus constitutes a fence panel of anydesired longitudinal extent, which may be employed advantageously assuch in a nursery or portion of a room set apart for the use of smallchildren to confine them within fixed bounds.

The track-rails may be of any preferred number, four being selected forillustration as a convenient number and one considered preferable. Thetrackrails are inclined one towards another, successively,-

from top to bottom, and each track-rail is provided in its upper surfacewith a longitudinally disposed groove 7, within which a sphericalmember, ball or marble,

8 may travel freely.

The several track-members are so disposed between the uprights to whichthey are fixed respectively, as to afford an open groove in the severaltrack-members from the highest to the lowest. The adjacent ends of thetrack-members are free and unconnected, and the lower end of eachtrack-member is elevated above the higher end of the next succeedingtrack-member. The said higher end of each track-member is provided witha pocket 9, which guards the end of the trackmember to which it issecured without obstructing the groove of said member below it, and isdisposed in close juxtaposition to the unobstructed lower end of thetrack-member next above it. The details of the pocket and of the twotrack-members are shown with special clearness in Fig. III of thedrawing, in which the unobstructed end of the track-member which com-Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 18, 1906. Serial No. 339,561.

' rail to another.

Patented Oct. 8, 1907.

municates with the pocket is, for convenience of reference, indicated bythe numeral 10.

The uppermost track-rail is provided at its higher end withthat which Idesignate for the purpose of distinction, as a taw pocket 11, which maybe constructed, like the pockets 9, or in any other preferred manner toaccommodate it to its function hereinafter described.

In operation, each player is provided with one or more marbles, themarbles of each player being distinguished by peculiar colors or othermark of identification. The game may consist in starting the marbles oneby one from the pocket 11 and allowing them to descend along the groovedtrack-rails by gravity. In passing down each inclined rail, they acquiremomentum, which will suifice to carry them from one upon the size andweight of the marbles which may, for that reason, be varied, may causethem in some instances to over-leap the pocket 9, into which ordinarily,however, they drop and continue their descent. Moreover, a plurality ofmarbles descending in close succession from one track-rail to another,become interchanged in relative position in passing through the pockets.In this way and by the possibility of some of the marbles over-leapingthe tracks, a suificient element of chance is introduced into the gameto enhance its value as a source of amusement to children.

The taw pocket may be employed as a pocket towards which the players mayshoot the marbles, by the aid of the thumb or a finger, one by one, froma distance. The object of the game may be to determine which one of aseries of marbles will pass out at the end of the lowermost track-rail6.

In Fig. I of the drawing, one of the marbles 8 is shown as passing downthe track-rail 4. Another is shown at the end of said track-rail asdropping into a pocket, and a thirdis shown at the end of the trackrail5 as striking upon the edge and leaping out of the pocket provided atthe end of the rail 5.

The pockets 9 and 11 are preferably made of felt or other soft materialpreferred for the purpose, and comprise barriers surrounding and carriedby the ends of their respective track-rails.

What I claim is:

That momentum, depending in part bling said track-rails, and a pocketcomprising a barrier surrounding and carried by the upper end of eachtrackrail, said pocket being disposed below the plane of the next highertrack-rail.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

JOHN B. FRY.

Witnesses R A. FRY, .T. C. lnAsLnY.

